Tours · Düsseldorf · tower
Schlossturm on Burgplatz
A stout round tower standing alone above the Rhine, the last survivor of a vanished ducal palace. It is the beating historical heart of Düsseldorf's Burgplatz.
About this place
The Schlossturm is the sole remnant of the residential palace that once made Düsseldorf a capital of the Dukes of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. Its lowest levels reach back to around 1260, while the elegant spire was added when Duke William the Rich modernised the fortress in the middle of the sixteenth century. Fires, a French bombardment, and finally a devastating blaze in 1872 reduced the sprawling palace to ruins, yet the Prussian king insisted the round tower be spared and that the square around it never be built upon again. Today the tower rises over the open Burgplatz where the Rhine bends past the old town, and since 1984 it has housed the SchifffahrtMuseum, the oldest inland-navigation museum in Germany, telling the story of the river that gave the city its life.
Key facts
- 1260 year — The tower's lowest three levels were raised around this time, making it the oldest structure in the old town
- 1872 year — A catastrophic fire gutted the ducal palace, sparing only this round tower
- 120 models — Ship models fill the maritime museum inside, from dugout canoes to modern container vessels
📍 Burgplatz 30, 40213, Düsseldorf